


THE PACT

by vanhunks



Series: THE FRIENDSHIP BARRIER [2]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 10:26:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7264150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanhunks/pseuds/vanhunks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Janeway is having a very bad day on Voyager. Ensigns and officers alike are the target of her ire. While she's in a blue funk, Chakotay becomes increasingly irritated by her behaviour. He asks himself, "What is <em>wrong</em> with Janeway?" Second installment in "The Friendship Barrier"</p>
            </blockquote>





	THE PACT

**Author's Note:**

> **Acknowledgement** : All thanks to Mary Stark for the betareading.
> 
>  **Disclaimer** : The characters Janeway, Chakotay, the EMH belong to Paramount.

* * *

By the time they were approaching the third quarter of Alpha Shift, Chakotay was ready to bite his tongue to prevent himself from screaming and yelling at the next ensign who happened to scurry past him looking for all the world as if he - or she - had just escaped the gallows.

Everywhere he asked, it seemed they put their fingers to their lips, not daring to say the name of "Janeway".

Captain Janeway.

He'd had enough of Janeway's blue funk which she’d been in all day. Weren't they so-called friends? Didn't they enjoy weekly dinners, one week in his quarters and the next week in hers? She could talk to him, if to no one else on Voyager, couldn't she? She did always talk to him and to no one else - well, except maybe Tuvok. Just not today. Didn't they have a kind of connection since that day he'd guided them away from that nebula through three planetoids? All while he was in a coma? He could have dwelt in the Mountains of the Antelope Women if Torres hadn't moved the Stone. But no, it was Janeway the Antelope Woman who kept him firmly on the biobed guiding them to safety.

This morning she'd glared at him when she came on duty - why was he always at his post before her? The entire first session she hadn't exchanged a word with him unless it was related to whatever was happening out there, in space, but that was okay. He could stand her not talking to him because silences can be companionable. But the looks! They were always half sad, half aggrieved that he had not understood this expression or that glance. What was _wrong_ with her?

"What the hell is the matter with you, Janeway?' he whispered eventually so that the bridge staff couldn't hear. She'd given him that aggrieved, disappointed look again that he didn't understand. Then she sniffed and kept her attention glued to the main viewscreen.

"Anything the matter, Commander?" Paris asked, daring to glance backwards at the command team. Did they have hearing like bats and dogs?

He had no time for Paris and just waved with his hand that the helmsman focus on his telemetries and coordinates and guide them away from the next nebula with life forms that wanted to suck their energy from them. Then he'd leaned over to Janeway in a kind of conspiratorial whisper.

"I'm waiting, Janeway," he urged her.

"It's nothing."

"Oh, yes? On my way back from the sick bay, two ensigns were in tears. Said you'd threatened them with death if they crossed your path again."

"They also told you they did nothing, Commander?"

"That about sums it up. So, what's up, Janeway?" 

"Why are you so concerned, Commander?"

That did it. She called him by his rank. He didn't like it one bit. So he went for the jugular.

"You know if I put my mind to it, I can read your mind and make you do…things?" he reminded her.

She glanced sharply at him. "Don't you dare!" she warned.

And she had given him the look that had made those unfortunate nameless ensigns scurry like mice away from her.

So he shut up a while.

Janeway had remained in her funk the rest of the morning, which she’d spent in her ready room until lunch. He'd wondered if she ate anything at all. Then he'd gone to the mess hall, where Neelix appeared to be extra hyperactive and gushing, ready to do everybody's bidding. He was carrying three plates balanced along his arm like a great server and hopping precariously from table to table.

"Why are you jumping like Rumpelstiltskin all over the mess hall?" he'd asked the Talaxian.

"Why, Commander, did-did Captain Janeway send - "

Then Neelix regaled him with the run-in he'd had with Captain Janeway, who'd snapped at him for no reason, and how she shouldn't snap at Talaxians for no reason while he was creating her favourite sautéed Slivers of Rock Mushrooms. Then the captain had rushed out of the mess hall.

And now, Torres. She'd hailed him from engineering minutes earlier. Janeway had just returned from her holodeck hour, not looking as if she'd had a great time there. He figured Torres' ire had to do with Janeway and whatever had happened in the holodeck.

He was accosted by Torres as he entered engineering.

"Chakotay!" the engineer shouted as she stormed towards him, a hyperspanner in her hand. He ducked as if she were going to strike him.

"What the hell?"

"That woman you call your _friend_. Yes, that one! Captain Janeway!"

"I'm tired of hearing complaints, Torres. What is it this time?"

"She challenged me to an hour's Velocity in Holodeck 2. I'm good, I can beat her on a good day."

"Did you lose?" He didn't want to laugh. Torres was enraged. He had a sudden image of Worf, twice as angry and snarling. In a moment she might hit him with the spanner.

"I don't mind losing against a better opponent - "

"Which Janeway was."

"Will you let me finish?"

"Okay."

"Why are you laughing?"

"I don't fancy the EMH diagnosing blunt force trauma when they transport my comatose body to sickbay."

Torres instantly lowered the hyperspanner arm, although her eyes were still shooting daggers.

"Something's bugging her. She was driven, Chakotay, like she more than wanted to beat the crap out of me. For no reason."

There it was again. For no reason.

"What must I do?" he asked.

"Talk to her. Tell her you'll kill her. Anything! Just don't let her come down here!"

***

**That evening, in Janeway's quarters.**

She lay on her bed still fully clothed although she'd come off duty an hour ago. She hadn't eaten all day, had coffee in her ready room and now she was about to faint from hunger. But the energy to get up and prepare something was just gone.

Giving a deep sigh, she flung over arm her face and thought of Chakotay. He had been confused at her behaviour and tried his best to engage in the small talk they usually got into whenever they were passing through benign space.

Chakotay.

She'd really bristled at the way he'd said he could probe her mind. After he and Tuvok had returned from their away mission, Chakotay had lain in a coma in sickbay. Although he had been cured by the EMH, she had been informed that he'd still had residual power to get into any crewman and officer's mind. He'd promised not to abuse his new if unwanted ability until it wore off completely. She didn't want him breathing into her brain, but today, her behaviour was stupid and childish, wanting to be remembered for something. How could anyone know? Chakotay wasn't going to stop poking around. Ensigns and officers alike had probably already lodged complaints…

Another deep sigh, after which she reluctantly rose from her bed when her stomach growled.

"It's only a trip to the replicator," she murmured as she made her way there.

A sudden beep made her jump, her heart suddenly pounding.

Damn.

"Captain Janeway!"

Did he have to shout?

"Go away, Commander."

"Are you going to open for me or shall I have Tuvok here to override your codes? I know I can, but having security here would mean having a witness and the entire ship would know you have PMT! Or  something."

"Or something!" she yelled from her lounge. Then, tired of holding him off, she called "Enter."

When Chakotay stood in front of her, Kathryn remembered thinking that first day in her ready room how she'd have to keep him at arm's length. She'd have to try her damnedest that he stayed out of her heart. They had a budding friendship, and she clung to that. Good heavens! Was that steam coming out his ears?

_Just don't look him in the eyes…_

"What do you want, Commander?"

"I'm Chakotay…most of the time, Kathryn."

"I'm the captain…most of the time. Don't use my name."

"Okay…KJ. You've been like a bull with a sore head today. There have been complaints."

"Complaints?" she asked. Looking him in the eyes would be her undoing. But he stepped closer. She jumped back.

"Yes, you know the kind," he blustered. "They all come to the first officer, or is it that I discover them weeping in corridors and cupboards. They are so afraid - "

" - of you, yes!"

" -  they're about to pee in their pants!" he said, ignoring her accusation. "It's like extracting a giant molar just trying to get them to talk. Well, Torres wasn't afraid of anything. But they all talk about how you dress them down _for no reason_."

Chakotay stressed the last words. Kathryn gave another big sigh, then plunged down on her couch, a little annoyed when Chakotay sat down next to her. He didn't touch her, but he might as well have held his arm round her shoulder. When she finally gazed at him, she knew instantly what he was doing.

"Oh, no, you don't! Don't get into my brain! I shall murder you in your bed, Commander!"

She put some distance between them and slunk into the corner of the couch.

"I haven't done a single thing, KJ. But I know what's been bugging you all day."

"You do?"

When he touched her hand, she felt the tension of the day, all her agonies and aches leave her body like a restless spirit. Her eyes stung with sudden tears, but she held them back.

"Tell you what," he said softly, "you go and freshen up a bit. Be here in fifteen minutes. It's very clear you haven't eaten all day." When she hesitated to move, wondering what he was up to, he barked, "Go!"

She touched his cheek, holding her palm there for a few seconds before she quickly vanished into her bedroom.

***********************************

**Twenty minutes later**

Chakotay held up his glass, gazed at the golden liquid, the crystal pattern flickering as the overhead light caught it. Kathryn held up her glass as well, her eyes shining. He didn't care whether it was from joy or the need to cry.

"A toast…"

"Aye, Commander."

"It's May 20. Happy birthday, KJ."

She gave a happy sob as she clinked her glass against his. This was the Kathryn he liked, her equilibrium restored.

"Thank you, Chakotay. Did you pick my brain?"

"Me? Trick you? Nah. Just went to double check. You've been walking about today unable to scream to the world it's your born day. What captain of a starship would do that, anyway?"

"No one. It's why - "

"Beating the crap out of Torres and making the ensigns empty their bladders - "

"Commander! We're having dinner! By the way, this cake is beautiful. "

A large sized cupcake stood on a single stand, its white frosting adorned with pink pearled sprinkles and topped with a pastel orangey-pink rose. Atop the rose burned a lone candle. The candle it seemed, didn't burn out.

"Blow your candle, KJ."

"KJ, huh."

"Yeah. Now blow!"

Then he laughed his head off as Kathryn huffed like a three year old child blowing out the candle. They sat in companionable silence for a few seconds before picking up their conversation again. Kathryn was on an even keel once more. Hopefully in the morning the ensigns wouldn't be so afraid because Captain Janeway would grace them with a touch of the hand on the shoulder and a smile. She'd even exchange pleasantries with them. Chakotay congratulated himself that he knew Kathryn Janeway's number, when and how to push a few buttons. But, he decided, he was not going to abuse his power over her, because he was beginning to value his friend more than anything in the Delta Quadrant. Well, not unless she drove him mad and he wanted to ram home who the real boss on Voyager was. He was not ever going to drown helplessly in the depths of her blue-grey eyes.

They enjoyed their dinner and then proceeded to dive into the cupcake with its rich frosting. Kathryn, still holding her beautiful crystal glass with its intricate design in one hand and a knife in the other, leaned over the table to reach the cake. Chakotay had the same idea.

"Ouch! Goddammit" he yelled when their heads knocked together.

The glass slipped from Kathryn's hand and shattered as it landed on the floor. Kathryn bent down quickly to pick it up, giving a cry of alarm as she cut her hand.

"Hey! Be careful!" Chakotay shouted as he saw blood. Almost as if she cut herself with a knife, it poured from a long gash in her palm. Kathryn seemed to stare dumbfounded at her bleeding hand.

Chakotay hit his commbadge.

"No! Don't!"

"What? You don't want treatment for your hand?"

Kathryn held her palm. There was a gleam in her eyes Chakotay reckoned to be somewhere between childish naughtiness and an idea that had sprung into her pretty little head. Her lips were parted. He'd forgotten to read her mind when she gazed at him like that.

"Chakotay," she breathed, the gleam never leaving her eyes. "I have an idea…"

********************************

The doors to the sick bay swung open and the EMH looked up, disturbed from his occupation of tending to a nameless ensign.

Janeway and Chakotay strode purposefully through the doors, blood dripping from their hands despite the cloths they used to staunch the flow.

"Captain! Commander!" he exclaimed as he approached them.

"Fix this now, Doctor," Janeway ordered without so much as a greeting.

The EMH glared at them, then at the nameless crewman who sat up on the biobed, his eyes wide as saucers as he gaped open-mouthed at his command team.

"I see," remarked the EMH acidly, "you have been in a fight again."

"Go!" Chakotay barked at the crewman who jumped off the bed and hit the ground running towards the sick bay doors.

"We don't fight," Janeway snapped. "We agree to disagree."

"You two are bleeding all over my hospital floor! What have you done this time? Look at you!"

So they looked. Janeway's right hand and Chakotay's left hand were bloodied from cuts along the palms.

And the EMH looked at their faces. Janeway showed no pain, neither did Chakotay. He had grown tired of their mischief. They were still in the first year of their journey home. With any luck, they would just barely succeed in not killing each other before the year was out.

"Let me guess, the trail of blood originates from one of your quarters. Which one is it?"

"Hers," Chakotay barked. "Are you going to fix us?" he demanded, stepping forward while the EMH jumped back.

"Why don't you bleed some more and when you lie on my floor close to dying, then I'll help you? Just so you have time to think about your toxic disagreements?"

"We didn't disagree," Janeway said sweetly. "In fact, Commander Chakotay was quite nice today."

"That man? He's a - "

"Computer, deacti - "

"Fine! Fine! Step right up here and I'll treat you before you expire and Tuvok is anointed as Captain."

"Oh, no, you don't!" they chorused.

So the EMH cleaned the cuts, used the dermal regenerator to close them up, took swabs dabbed in surgical alcohol to wipe away the blood.

"What happened this time?" he asked.

"My Waterford crystal glass broke. _He_ knocked it from my hand!" Janeway replied, glaring accusingly at her first officer.

"That's not how it happened, Janeway! You swerved and our heads knocked! Then your glass fell to the floor!"

"We both bent down to pick up the shards - "

"No, you did!" Chakotay corrected her.

"Don't tell me you cut yourself conveniently, clean across the palms. Bad excuse. Start again."

"You'd better believe us!" Chakotay fumed as he stepped menacingly into the EMH's space.

"But," continued the doctor, "your blood, Captain, found its way into the Commander's cut and some of his blood was mixed deep into yours."

Janeway and Chakotay grinned sheepishly.

"The glass did fall, Doctor."

"And so you used the opportunity to…?"

"Make a pact." Chakotay snapped again, just wanting to be out of sick bay.

"Are you done?" Janeway asked.         

"Yes, you can attempt to murder each other at the next planet."

"Computer, deactivate Emergency Medical Hologram."

When they were back in the corridor outside sick bay, Janeway hooked her arm through Chakotay's as they walked to the turbolifts.

"Now we are forever friends. We made a pact. Don't you forget it, Commander. No hanky-panky behind my back, do you understand?"

"Yes, _we_ understand that completely."

Two ensigns who exited the turbolift saw the command team in a jovial mood, with Captain Janeway playfully punching the Commander's arm and he returning the favour by punching back so hard that she stumbled sideways. Captain Janeway laughed as she recovered, not in the least angry the way she had been all day, according to those who had crossed her path. "Go!" Commander Chakotay barked at them when they hesitated. Then they ran as fast as their feet could carry them, to tell their friends of what they had witnessed.

So it happened that the unnamed ensign who had been chased from sick bay and ran in such rapid fashion, went and told his friends how Captain Janeway and the Commander arrived there all bloodied, with blood pouring on the floor. They told their friends how Captain Janeway's palm was cut clean in half. By the time the stories reached the last ensign and officer, Commander Chakotay had tried to murder Captain Janeway in her quarters. He had stabbed her in a fit of rage with a Klingon dagger he carried against his calf hidden under his uniform trousers. The captain had valiantly attempted to protect herself and in the process got hurt, but not before she stabbed the commander in the hand.

Elsewhere, the two unnamed ensigns who were accosted in the turbolift by the command team heard one or two words that had drifted to them as they scurried away from them and before the doors slid closed. They head the number "twenty" and "May". When word of this finally reached Lieutenant Paris, he correctly assumed that it had to be the Captain's birthday, else why was she so glum all day when no one remembered? But, retorted some of the crew, how could anyone know and how it would have been nice to remind others of such an auspicious day. That was not courteous.

At ten that evening, Chakotay and Captain Janeway sat on her couch in companionable silence as they pored over interminable reports. She wore a pair of socks and her feet cushioned in Chakotay's lap. Both looked up disturbed as they were hailed by Tom Paris and told to pay attention.  

"What for?" Commander Chakotay demanded.

"Listen…"

A second later a chorus of voices rose from all over the ship, wherever a crewman was on duty, singing "Happy Birthday" to the Captain.

After she thanked them for their beautiful gesture, she looked at Chakotay, her lips curving in the smile he hated because it was so infectious and threatened to derail him into falling into her clutches. He hadn't told anyone and figured only Tom Paris could have made such a magnificent assumption. But it had been worthwhile sensing what had been bugging her. Infinitely worthwhile.

"Don't for one moment think you're off the hook, Commander."

She knew. Damn.

Chakotay, not to be outdone by the smile and glistening eyes, brought his face quite close to hers. Close enough that their lips almost touched.  He enjoyed her sudden unease.

"Friends?"

She gave a relieved sigh.

"Forever."

****

**end**


End file.
